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Brand Grades Plus Shares - Pontiac

Pontiac Brand Quality Grades and U.S. Market Shares

This page gives Pontiac's Quality Grades for model years 1985-1989, 1990-1994, 1995-1999, 2000-2004, 2005-2006, and 1985-2006, its U.S. new car market shares for calendar years 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, its changes in market share from 1985 to these years, its changes in market share from 2000 to 2004 and 2009, its U.S. new light vehicle market shares for calendar years 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, and charts plotting Pontiac's U.S. new car market shares for calendar years 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 and its U.S. new light vehicle market shares for the same years. Quality Grades are a rating of reliability and durability of car and light truck models within the Pontiac brand and are based on Consumer Reports' worst vehicle tables and its reliability charts/tables.

Pontiac's Quality Grades

Pontiac's Quality Grades for model years 1985-1989, 1990-1994, 1995-1999, 2000-2004, 2005-2006, and 1985-2006 are given below.

The Pontiac brand is among the bottom 5 on the Quality Grade spectrum for the overall model-year period 1985 to 2006 and is now defunct. General Motors’ Buick brand, with some better Quality Grades than GM’s Pontiac brand, is not (yet) defunct; however, the Buick line had lost 86% of its U.S. new car market share from 1985 to 2009.

For contrast and comparison, the Quality Grades of the Toyota brand (with the best record) are all Excellent and the Quality Grades of the Chevrolet brand (with the worst record) are all Worst.

The criteria for each grade for each model-year period are given near the bottom of this page.

Pontiac's U.S. New Car Market Shares

Pontiac's U.S. new car market shares for calendar years 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, together with its changes in market share from 1985 to these years and its changes in market share from 2000 to 2004 and 2009, are given next. Market shares are rounded to the nearest hundredth.

Calendar Year

U.S. New Car Market Share

Percent Change in U.S. Share from 1985

Percent Change in U.S. Share from 2000

xxxx

1989

0.07

-4%

1994

0.07

-10%

1999

0.06

-12%

2004

0.06

-22%

-9%

2009

0.03

-57%

-50%

The Pontiac line lost only 57% of its U.S. new car market share from 1985 to 2009, while the Buick line lost 86%. This suggests that (1) Pontiac brand consumers had far fewer information acquisition skills and likely a much lower aptitude than Buick brand consumers, both very desirable consumer traits for brands at the bottom end of the Quality Grade spectrum, and consequently (2) it would have been far smarter of GM executives to have killed the Buick brand than the Pontiac brand, if their interest was to benefit shareholders.

For contrast and comparison, from 1985 to 2009 Toyota's U.S. new car market share grew 189% and Chevrolet's fell 34%, and from 2000 to 2009 Toyota's grew 65% and Chevrolet's fell 1%.

Pontiac's U.S. new light vehicle market shares for calendar years 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, together with its changes in market share from 1985 to these years and its changes in market share from 2000 to 2004 and 2009, are given next. Market shares are rounded to the nearest hundredth.

Some brands have many more CAs than are required for a grade of Worst. For example, Chevrolet has 234 CAs.

This page was created in October of 2012.

Additional Resources

More detail on brand Quality Grades is given in the Kindle ebook entitled AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series, Volume 2: Brand Quality for Model Years 1985 to 2006 and Brand Market Shares from 1985 to 2009. Links to the Amazon page offering the book are given below.

One of the several Kindle E-books by site creator and manager, Jim Bleeker:

This volume of AutoOnInfo.net’s car guide series offers consumers and researchers an historical summary of the reliability and durability of car and truck brands and examines how these brands have fared in their U.S. market shares. It uses 6-year-old model entries in Consumer Reports’ Used Car to Avoid – also termed Vehicles to Avoid and Worst Cars, Year by Year – and CR’s reliability charts to ascribe quality grades to automobile brands for model-year groups 1985 to 1989, 1990 to 1994, 1995 to 1999, 2000 to 2004, 2005 to 2006, and 1985 to 2006. In addition to ascribing quality grades to each brand, it provides a chart that plots the number of the brand’s 6-year-old model entries in CR’s vehicles to avoid. To examine the effect that a brand’s reliability and durability has had on sales, two or more charts depicting the brand’s U.S. market shares for calendar years 1985 to 2009 are given. These grades and charts and the author’s comments impart an historical perspective that sheds light on the present condition of surviving vehicle lines and their future prospects, individual and institutional shortcomings, and what effect these may have on the U.S.

JB

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Hard Copy Books by James Bleeker available on www.blurb.com

To the left are the icons of the hard copy editions of Volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on blurb.com or purchase a copy, click the applicable icon.

JB

The_50_Best_Cars_and_The_100_Worst_Cars_in_America_in_2013

Kindle E-books by James Bleeker available on www.amazon.com

To the left are icons of the Kindle editions of Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4, of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on amazon.com or purchase a copy, click the applicable icon. To view all, click here.

JB

To the left is an icon of the Kindle edition of Volumes 5, 6, and 7 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on amazon.com or purchase a copy, click the applicable icon. To view all, click here.

JB

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Pdf Editions of Books by James Bleeker available on www.scribd.com

To the left are icons of the pdf editions of Volumes 2, 4, and 5 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on scribd.com or download a copy, click the applicable icon. The pdf editions of Volumes 4 and 5 are available at no charge.

To the left are icons of the pdf editions of Volumes 6 and 7 of AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series. To view a description of the book on scribd.com or download a copy, click the applicable icon. The pdf edition of Volume 7 is available at no charge. Volumes 6 and 7 have enhanced navigational capability as well as an improved page style.